Religion IV - Orson Scott Card, Mormonism, and Matters of Faith
Let me apologize for this entry right up front… it rambles. It roams. Depending on your viewpoint, it may or may not ever come to a point. I just had several ideas occur to me, only somewhat related, and they all ended up here.
I have always been a tremendous fan of Orson Scott Card. His most famous character I take my Yahoo! handle from, I have read virtually everything he has ever written, and with only rare exceptions, I have enjoyed it all.
Some of you know that I was a little disappointed in the Alvin Maker series, especially the later entries, as it became more and more obvious to me that it was not a completely original story, but instead a retelling of some portions of the Book of Mormon, and â??The Crystal Cityâ? that Alvin is destined to build is actually a reference to the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City, Utah.
As this dawned on me, I felt betrayed, as Card has always been quite up front about which of his stories were science fiction (Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead), which were fantasy (Enchantment, Wyrms) and which were religious retellings of already exiting stories (Sarah, Rebekah, and his forthcoming Women of Mormon series). Card always has a spiritual aspect to his stories, even if it is extremely subtle, and not central to the story at hand (Ender is the son of a Mormon father, after religion is declared illegal, the protagonist in Enchantment is a devout Jew). He’s never seemed to me to have a hidden agenda, though, and for some reason, it annoyed me that the tales of Alvin Maker turned out to be religious allegory, and I didn’t realize that fact until I was 5 books into the series.
Or maybe I was just upset that I didn’t get it from the start.
On my most recent (today, as a matter of fact) trip to Tampa, I decided to take the Book of Mormon as my reading material. Although I have read sections of the BoM, and I have read the Pearl of Great Price, I had never attempted a cover to cover reading of the BoM itself.
So as I awoke from my quick nap following takeoff (what is it about takeoffs that put me to sleep?) I cracked it open and began to read.
Imagine my surprise, as I turned the pages of the First Book of Nephi… I was reading Card’s book, Memory of Earth. It was more than similar, it was blatant. It’s exactly the same story, with the same characters (some of whose names are not even changed), acting in the same ways. I’m not sure why, but I don’t feel as betrayed this time. I guess mainly because I knew Card wanted to tell the stories of his religion to an audience that does not know them well (can you name even one book from the Book of Mormon?). So finding out that he did it in more than one series is not as upsetting. It bothered me less also because I recognized the similarity almost immediately, so when I did figure it out, I didn’t feel dumb.
So the difference was in me, not in Card. Maybe I grew up, maybe I just knew what to expect now. There is far more Mormon imagery in Card’s literature than I ever imagined.
And on the other hand, if you want to read the Book of Mormon (at least the beginning of it), in an expanded form with a few extra plot points, and a more modern writing style, read Memory of Earth.
Here’s a quick reader’s guide… (references to MoE are first, BoM second)
- the Oversoul = God
- Nefai = Nephi
- Basilica = Jerusalem
The general plot of both stories is as follows: the controlling entity (God, the Oversoul) has a crisis, and presents the main character’s (Nephi, Nafai) father a vision in a pillar of fire, and warns him to leave the city (Basilica, Jerusalem) which is soon to be destroyed. The main character is a faithful son, and goes willingly, but his older brother is violent and murmurs against his father. They set up camp outside the city in a valley by a river which the father names for the older son. The younger son is sent back into the town to obtain an artifact that contains valuable family information. The younger son uses all of his father abandoned wealth within the city to obtain the artifact (since they are leaving, what use is the wealth?) and is beaten by the older son upon his return, who still harbors hope that he will inherit, and get to return to his life in the city. While on this mission, the younger son (the main character) kills the keeper of the artifact by cutting off his head with a sword, and then dons his clothes as a disguise to escape the city. This is done at the direct behest of the controlling entity.
At this point I stopped reading to start this entry. I don’t know how long the direct correlation continues, but I’ll let you know. The above plot is exactly the plot of both books. I don’t think I am imagining this.
NOTE: Apparently, if I had ever bothered to read the user reviews on Amazon.com, this link between Memory of Earth and First Book of Nephai is well known. I don’t really see how it could not be, given HOW similar the two works are. Memory of Earth is the first of a series, I have no idea how long the correlation continues… but I know basically where the Book of Mormon is headed, with Nephi’s family reaching the North American continent. The third book in the Memory series has Nafai’s family leaving their planet (Harmony) for another (Earth). So, the correlation could conceivably continue for a long time.
Given that I don’t think Card has ever won one of his many awards for one of his religious retellings (which would be a bit odd, winning an award for a non-original story) I don’t really think I have a problem with it.
And to be honest, that wasn’t what I was planning this entry to be about in the first place. I feel like Arlo Guthrie (â??Which brings us back to Alice… remember Alice? This is a song about Alice.â? — about 7 minutes into the song Alice’s Restaurant)
Before making my realization about Memory of Earth, my intention was for this entry to be about faith. Different people have very different visions of faith, a friend of mine has been known to say that â??faith is not an act of volitionâ? and Soren Kierkagaard felt that faith which needed to be backed any sort off empirical evidence was flawed faith. In effect, it didn’t count.
Kierkagaard’s example of perfect faith is Abraham. For those of you who are not familiar with the story (Abraham did lots of things, this is just one small aspect of his story, which can be found with varying levels of detail, in Genesis, The Pearl of Great Price, and several Suras of the Qua’ran). Abraham was a devout man who had been very blessed, but did have the misfortune to have wed a woman who was barren, and therefore did not have any sons (with his wife, he did have one with a concubine, but that is a matter for another day). This was a matter of some distress for Abraham, and finally, very late in life (and I mean REALLY late in life) God blessed Abraham and his wife Sarah, with a son, Isaac.
Cutting to the climax of the story, God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, as a test of his faithfulness. Although he does not understand why, Abraham prepares to kill his beloved son, until he is stopped at the last minute by an angel, who tells him that he has proven himself a true and loyal servant of the Lord, and he does not have to kill Isaac to prove himself.
Kierkagaard cites this as an example of perfect faith. No reasonable man would do such a thing without explanation, and yet Abraham is prepared to.
This is a faith far beyond what most of us have, and I don’t mind confessing, beyond what I possess. I enjoy reading of physical evidence of the events in the Bible. The fact that there is archeological evidence of a flood in the Tigris-Euphrates river valley strengthens my faith, rather than weakens it. The fact that there are actual records of the life of Jesus, actual evidence of the destruction of the original temple in Jerusalem… those things help me along my path.
Which actually gets me to the main point that I intended to get to in the first place in this entry…
I would not make a good Mormon.
There is no archeological evidence whatsoever that the people detailed in the Book of Mormon ever existed. The epic battles that were fought in (probably) Central and Southern North America have never been found. And get this… The Church of Latter Day Saints admits that they do not ever expect to find any such evidence.
To them, it’s not a matter of evidence, it’s a matter of faith. Evidence would do very little to enhance the belief of a devout Mormon who already believes in these events with all their heart.
I myself would have a difficult time with some of the more esoteric (historical, rather than spiritual) beliefs without some evidence. Yes, I am fully aware of the irony. I happen to subscribe to a religion that claims that the Son of God was born of a virgin, and who rose from the dead following his execution. And yet I seem to have a bit of a problem with the fact that the lost tribe of Israelites might have made it to the American continent. (sigh) No, I cannot explain it. Nor am I going to try.
Side Note: Isn’t it odd how certain messages crop up in your life just when you need them? In the middle of writing this entry, I was watching an episode of Firefly (fantastic show, by the way) which contained the following exchange (Just the tiniest bit of background… Shepherd book is a preacher, River is a profoundly gifted, and equally disturbed, young girl):
[Shepherd Book prepares a meal as he absentmindedly addresses River.]
Book: What are we up to, sweetheart?
River: Fixing your Bible.
Book: River, you don’t… fix the Bible.
River: It’s broken. It doesn’t make sense.
Book: It’s not about… making sense. It’s about believing in something. And letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It’s about faith. You don’t fix faith, River. It fixes you.
That is an excellent summation of what I was trying to say. Faith is not about making sense. Not all the time.
Or, to say the same thing in a considerably darker, more cynical way…
â??Faith means not wanting to know what is true.â?
— Frederich Nietzche
Kierkagaard would have made a good Mormon. Nietzche not so much.